Something’s a Little Off

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Something’s a Little Off: Are Your Symptoms a Sign of Hormone Imbalance?

 

Hormone imbalance is a common culprit behind many of the chronic symptoms that women complain about these days. And it’s no wonder. With all of the responsibilities we have to juggle between our families, work, and personal lives, it’s not hard to see why the delicate dance between estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone—the three primary female hormones—takes a stumble and falls out of sync from time to time.

 

Many women share common complaints about their physical and emotional selves. While some of these issues are experienced only a few days out of the month, sometimes they continue for weeks and even months on end. When this happens, it can be a sign of hormone imbalance.

Some of the most common symptoms of hormone imbalance for women are:

  • Fat (difficulty losing weight)
  • Fatigue
  • Depression
  • Food cravings
  • Mood swings
  • Insomnia
  • Anxiety
  • Dry skin
  • Hair loss

 

While many of the above symptoms come and go as our hormones fluctuate throughout our monthly menstrual cycles, when we have a lot of stress in our lives, some of these symptoms will continue or reappear more frequently than normal. This is often a clue that your hormones are out of whack.

 

Stress and Hormone Imbalance

Chronic stress is one of the most common causes of hormone imbalance. While our bodies are equipped to handle certain levels of stress, when that stress continues for days, weeks, and months at a time, it can throw our delicate hormone system off balance.

 

When it comes to stress, there are three common sources. They are:

 

Mental & Emotional Stress: This type of stress is what comes to mind most often when we hear the word stress. Common sources of emotional and mental stress include our jobs, work commutes, family obligations, loss of a loved one, divorce and other relationship issues, financial problems, and more. Being busy and on the go without enough downtime can also create a lot of mental and emotional stress.

 

Dietary Stress: What and how we eat can put a lot of stress on our bodies. This includes eating too much or too little, eating the wrong foods (junk food or food that our bodies are sensitive to), and even eating at the wrong times of the day.

 

Stress from Pain & Inflammation: Experiencing routine pain and inflammation can be very stressful on our bodies. While obvious conditions like arthritis are a common source, there are a variety of “silent” conditions that can cause chronic pain and inflammation, which often go undetected. For example, eating food that your body is sensitive to can be a source of stomach pain or other recurring gastrointestinal issues. Silent infections, environmental toxins, and problems with your detoxification system can also cause certain areas of your body to become inflamed and painful.

 

While many chronic symptoms are easy to link to hormone imbalance, some are quite vague, making it hard to pinpoint the true problem. Sometimes the only symptom of hormone imbalance is feeling tired more than usual. Other times it’s just a general sense that something’s “a little off.”

 

No matter what your symptoms are, what’s important to remind yourself is that you know your body better than anyone. Even if your family doctor has told you there’s nothing wrong, or that it’s just all part of the normal female cycle, menopause, or aging, if you know the symptoms you’ve been experiencing aren’t normal for your body, then don’t give up!

 

As a woman, your hormones are a vital part of your emotional and physical being. Regardless of what stage of life you’re in, there’s no reason you should have to live with an imbalanced hormonal system.

 

Hormone imbalances can be safely corrected in a relatively short period of time—often times in less than 6 months. But, of course, to fix things, you need to know exactly what’s going on inside your body.

 

So get in touch with me. I’m happy to help you get to the source of your symptoms and discuss how we can increase your energy levels, improve your mood, help you lose weight, and restore your health and vitality! Contact me here.

 

Are your symptoms a sign of hormone imbalance? Take the burnout quiz.

 

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